The Nutcracker is a major example of a balletic twist of fate. The very thing critics and audiences objected to at the time of its premiere 117 years ago – its appeal to children – is what turned it into such a bankable classic. From your local end of the year ballet school presentation, to the most lavish productions for the big companies and every kind of thing in-between (even Nutcracker on Ice), Christmas season has now become saturated with Nutcrackers everywhere.

Vsevolozhsky managed to secure Tchaikovsky and Petipa’s collaboration again but Tchaikovsky only agreed to write for The Nutcracker on the basis that he would also be able to work on his opera Iolanta. Because Petipa had fallen ill he ended up working mostly with the choreographer’s assistant Lev Ivanov. Although Tchaikovsky’s music was appreciated (but again thought too symphonic for a ballet) the production was criticized, mainly for the lack of logic relationship between its two acts. The Nutcracker received only 14 performances initially. Some critics thought there was not enough complexity in the story and “no subject whatever”. To critics and audiences alike, the Nutcracker was a luxurious piece but one that was “made for children”.

The Nutcracker in the West

Although it was not considered much of a hit in Russia, The Nutcracker kept being performed throughout the theatre season (at that time, it was not heavily associated with Christmas). In the West, however, it boomed. First seen in scattered pieces, with the Arabian dance transplanted into the Ballets Russes’s Sleeping Princess and with Anna Pavlova‘s take on The Waltz of the Snowflakes, London audiences soon got the first full version.

Most versions have some links back to the original, but by the time they were staged, much of the choreography had been lost and/or changed. This meant that Ivanov’s original Waltz of the Snowflakes had to be reconstructed from notations (presumably incomplete) made in St. Petersburg before WWI. Likewise, Ivanov’s Grand Pas De Deux in which Prince Coqueluche (Koklush) spread out a veil gently gliding the Sugar Plum Fairy as if she were on ice (or icing sugar) has been revised or scrapped in most versions, although Balanchine’s Nutcracker still pays homage to it.

Perhaps the biggest downside to so many different Nutcracker versions over the years has been the progressive watering down of E.T.A Hoffmann’s original story and its aura of mystery, rooted in the German Romantic movement. Hoffmann’s tales often include fantastic elements coexisting with folklore (another example being Coppélia) which are sometimes ignored in favour of the ballet’s child-friendly aspects. However, some versions of the ballet seek to preserve the Romantic layers and its mystery, notably Nureyev’s version for the Paris Opera Ballet (POB) as well as Sir Peter Wright‘s for The Royal Ballet and for Birmingham Royal Ballet.

Sir Peter’s 1984 version of The Nutcracker for The Royal Ballet, still performed by the Company, stays close to Hoffmann’s original tale. It emphasises Drosselmeyer’s mission to find a young girl – Clara – who can break the curse imposed by the Mouse King on his nephew Hans Peter and thus restore him to human form. References to Nuremberg and German Christmas traditions are present in the settings, with a kingdom of marzipan featured in Act 2. Equally successful is his 1990 version for Birmingham Royal Ballet, this one closer to the Russian tradition of having Clara double up as the Sugar Plum Fairy, but with a slight twist: it is Clara’s alter ego ballerina doll who turns into the Fairy.

Nureyev’s production for POB has a clear emphasis on symbology and the subconscious: Clara wanders down the stairs at midnight to find her family and friends turned into rats and bats, while Drosselmeyer transforms into a handsome prince.

Mikhail Baryshnikov‘s 1976 popular version for ABT turns the Christmas dream into a coming-of-age tale. There is no Sugar Plum Fairy nor Prince Koklush, the focus being Clara’s encounter with the Nutcracker Prince as orchestrated by her Godfather Drosselmeyer. As the ballet ends, so does Clara’s fantasy.

More recently, the ballet has seen a flurry of ironic takes. In Mark Morris’s The Hard Nut (1991) the Stahlbaums are a suburban family with a fake Christmas tree, bad hairdos and too much to drink, the second act Arabian divertissement being a trio for oil sheiks. In Matthew Bourne‘s Nutcracker! (1992) Clara lives in an orphanage run by Mr. and Mrs. Dross and tries to win the heart of the hunky Nutcracker prince.

Story

The sheer amount of versions make it impossible for us to list all the differences and twists in the various Nutcrackers around the world, but the storyline is more or less always the same:

Characters

Herr Drosselmeyer

Clara (or Marie, or Masha)

Nutcracker Prince (or Hans Peter)

Sugar Plum Fairy

Her Prince Cavalier (Prince Koklush)

Act 1

A Christmas party is taking place at the Stahlbaums’, parents to Clara and Fritz. Drosselmeyer brings his goddaughter Clara a gift of a nutcracker doll. Children being children, Fritz eventually grabs and breaks the Nutcracker doll much to Clara’s dismay. Drosselmeyer fixes it restoring peace amongst the youngsters. Guests depart and Clara suddenly sees herself surrounded by a fantasy world, where the Christmas tree grows, and dolls and soldiers come to life to battle with the mice who have also grown to Clara’s own size. She sees her Nutcracker doll leading the battle and being attacked by the Mouse King. She throws her slipper at the Mouse, liberating the Nutcracker who turns into a Prince. They embark on a magical journey, their first stop being the Land of Snow where snow flakes waltz around them in patterns, as if blown by the wind.

Act 2

Clara and her Nutcraker Prince arrive at the Kingdom of Sweets where they are greeted by the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Prince Cavalier. They are invited to watch a series of divertissements representing exotic travels and various different sweets: Chocolate (Spanish dance) Coffee (Arabian dance) Tea (Chinese dance), the Russian Trépak (Cossacks), Mother Ginger & the polichinelles (in certain versions), along with the dance of the little pipes/Mirlitons and the Waltz of the Flowers. The celebrations close with the Sugar Plum Fairy and her Prince dancing a grand pas de deux. The curtain usually falls on Clara waking up back at home wondering whether it was all just a dream.

Tchaikovsky died in 1893 not knowing what a big success his work would achieve. He had been burned twice before when writing for ballet (with Swan Lake and The Sleeping Beauty), so he was less than enthusiastic to do so again but Vsevolozhsky convinced him on the basis that he would also be able to write the opera Iolanta which interested him more and which premiered on the same day as the ballet. Paradoxically, his Nutcracker score became, over the years, the more celebrated of the two works.

Having received the joint commission, Tchaikovsky started on The Nutcracker writing to his brother Anatoly in March 1891 that “the main thing is to get rid of the ballet; as to the opera I am so fascinated by it that if I could have two weeks of peace I would be sure to finish it on schedule”. As he embarked on a trip to Berlin and Paris en route to an American tour that same year, he heard of the death of his sister Sasha. Perhaps for this reason, a hint of sadness and nostalgia permeates The Nutcracker‘s haunting score.

He finished composing the ballet on 6 July 1891, having added to it a novelty instrument which he had bought during his tour in Paris, the celesta, which he used to give The Sugar Plum Fairy her characteristic sound of heavenly bells.

An essential Nutcracker Spotify/Ipod playlist should include the below tracks:

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14 Comments

[...] in the love. But for most in ballet, it’s slightly different. Christmas means seemingly unending Nutcracker runs, accompanied by seemingly unending rehearsals and shows, maybe 30 or more in a season. This [...]

[...] Nutcracker and the Mouse King and premiered in 1892 at the Imperial Theatre in Saint Petersburg, The Nutcracker is now the most popular family Christmas show of all time. Widely regarded as the finest [...]

July 18, 2011

Aquara

i actually took part in the nutcracker production by the minnesota ballet! it was very interesting! i actually have danced with the minnesota ballet for almost 9 years now it is a great ballet! by looking at the photos above though this ballet looks like it is just as good!

[...] 2011) over the holiday period, but it’s all relative. We’re ready to welcome back Peter Wright’s elegant production for The Royal Ballet after an overdose of Cinderellas and furry animals (Beatrix Potter, Peter and [...]

[...] died. The composer had created two important ballet scores – The Sleeping Beauty (1890) and The Nutcracker (1892) – and plans to bring Swan Lake to the Mariinsky had existed for a while. At a [...]

[...] The Nutcracker Pas de Deux – This was a chance to sample a tiny morsel of Ratmansky’s newest Nutcracker, with Marcelo Gomes and Veronika Part leading. Ratmansky again transforms music into steps and proves just about how much he loves Tchaikovsky’s haunting score; we feared for the couple as the choreography demands speedy footwork and very intricate lifts, but Gomes is a tremendous partner and Veronika is all elegance, even when she plays peek-a-boo with the audience. We only wish we could have seen the work in context; from this short extract Ratmansky’s Sugar Plum Fairy and Prince seem to have a story to tell and this aspect was lost in translation. [...]

[...] and Gelsey Kirkland perform the Act I Pas de Deux from Baryshnikov’s production of The Nutcracker recorded for TV [...]

January 2, 2011

mary lembi

I saw in the year 1990′s a beautiful german movie, called the Nutcracker, a moive in color
it would play, here in the United States, every year at TCM, Turner Classic Movies, but
has anot played in a very long time. It had the Toy maker, come in a large type of boat,like a gandala. He wore a larage Turkish hat.
All in tehenicolor. Boy I have waited and serach now since 2007, and TCM, said they where
not ready, to sell, that movie, as of yet. I have look everywhere for it, the name of the dancer
is in german, Miller or Muller, and it states THE NUTCRACKER, with Bristish English Narration,
very old movie, a real classic, please tell me if you have ever seen it. Also the ballet of the
arbaians, is done with women, dress like arabian dancers, the ballerias, for the french dance,
our wearning white 16th centurary wigs, with the dancer’s having, beauty marks next to there
lips. And small ruffuled collars, very french. Thank you, marylembi@yahoo.com

December 14, 2010

mary lembi

The first Nutcracker movie on television, I saw was in german, with a british narration,
all in color. Do you know, the german actor and dancer called Miller.

[...] for ballet (together with Tchaikovsky’s scores for Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker). He originally conceived the score as 53 sections linked by the dramatic elements of the story, [...]

[...] At that time Petipa was diagnosed with a skin disease which meant long periods away from work. For The Nutcracker (1892) Tchaikovsky worked with Petipa’s assistant Lev Ivanov who would frequently cover for [...]

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The Ballet Bag has been giving a fresh spin on ballet since 2009, breaking down the myth that classical dance is for traditionalists, and covering it under a younger light. We aim to be one of the most stylish dance webzines on the blogosphere, to feature dancers, companies, performances, and dance media crossed over with other art forms and cultural references: pop culture, cinema, rock music, etc. In short, here's where dance meets remix culture.